Planning of research topics and activities has been going on for some time within the research area, and main types of infrastructure as well as main topics for research are shown in the figure below.

The main research topics are very much in line with the main research areas as described by the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) in their Strategic Research Agenda until 2030.

Research projects covering more of the research topics given in the figure have been funded by the Research Council of Norway for the period 2007-2009, and they are now in the intial phase. These projects are mainly based on PhD or postdoc projects, and altogether 8 projects are planned within the following topics:

• Forecasting sustainable infrastructure
• Future materials and technology for construction and management
• Vulnerability and safety of critical infrastructure

In addition, 3 PhD projects may be started within the topic Climate changes and consequences.

The aims of the long term research activities regarding sustainable infrastructure will be to contribute to design, planning, positioning and construction of new infrastructure as well as further development, improvement and management of the existing infrastructure. There is a great need for research activities related to both new and existing infrastructure. New types of infrastructure have to be developed, eg. infrastructure demanding less use of resources in both the construction and the management phase, more energy efficient buildings, new types of infrastructure for production and distribution of energy and for transport and communication, infrastructure being adapted to climate changes and being more related to risk, vulnerability and safety, infrastructure for new activities in the Arctic region, etc. There is also a need for a more efficient use of resources by development of new materials, new construction principles and methods and by recirculation, application of life cycle assessments (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC), etc. There will be a great challenge to establish multi-disciplinary research activities applying knowledge from other research areas, such as info-, nano- and biotechnology, geomatics, geotechnical engineering, industrial ecology and risk analysis.